College graduates should prepare for spring hiring

April 11, 2011|By Carolyn Bigda, special to Tribune Newspapers

Time to polish up the resume.

According to university career centers and employer surveys, hiring among graduating college students is improving this spring, continuing a trend that started at the beginning of the 2010-2011 academic year.

Back in the fall, employers said they planned to increase hiring by 13.5 percent from the previous year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which tracks hiring trends.

Since then, the outlook has remained positive. In February, 53 percent of employers said they expected to hire more college graduates this year, up from less than 50 percent in the fall.

Of course, even with an uptick in recruitment, competition for jobs remains stiff.

Unemployment among 20- to 24-year-olds was 15.4 percent in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's down from a high of 17 percent in 2010 but still more than twice the rate from the same period in 2007, before the recession.

So if you're graduating from college this spring and looking for work, you'll need to employ smart job-search strategies, like the following:

Use social media

No, this is not license to spend more time on Facebook. But university career coaches say, increasingly, they're encouraging students to use online social media, such as LinkedIn, to make connections with alumni and industry professionals.

Networking is key in this job market. "With hiring still tight, we're finding the most success with that type of job search," said Ginna Holmes, director of academic and career planning at Alma College in Michigan.

An online platform, such as LinkedIn, which caters to the professional crowd, is one easy way to build that network. The site allows you to link to individuals you may know, but you can also find connections through groups that are affiliated with, say, your college or the industry in which you'd like to find a job.

Alma, for example, recently launched its own group on LinkedIn called ACT, or Alma Connecting Together. To join the group, students must first take a class about professional networking. Once they belong to ACT, students can access career "consultants," namely alumni, parents of other Alma students and community members.

"Larger corporations are choosing to go to fewer and fewer campuses [to recruit]," Holmes said. As a result, at a small liberal arts school, such as Alma, "students have to be proactive."

Prep for phone interviews

Even at large universities, cost-conscious employers are making fewer recruiting trips to campus. In lieu of one-on-one interviews, many firms now pre-screen job candidates by phone.

As a result, Donna Goldfeder, director of career services at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, says it's important for students to know how to verbalize their interest.

"A very important part of the interview is to be enthusiastic, which can be portrayed with body language in person," she said. "On the phone, you have only your voice and words."

Her advice: To express your zeal, use phrases such as, "Wow, that's interesting." Worried about an awkward silence? Explain the pause by saying, "That's a good question. Let me take a minute to think through my answer."

Also, use notes. Since you're doing the interview on the phone, you can reference notes you've jotted down about the company or points you want to make about yourself. "That can be a big advantage," Goldfeder said.

Broaden your search

As you do your search, try to cast a wide net.

"One of the biggest mistakes students make is to say they're only to going to look [for jobs] in this one city or focus on only one area of their field," Goldfeder said.

A better approach is to use your network of contacts to explore potential alternatives, especially if you're getting few leads.

The effort often pays off. At Bentley University in Massachusetts, for example, 22 percent of graduates in the class of 2010 reported landing a job through networking, says Susan Brennan, managing director of the university's career services, up from 12% in the class of 2009.

"I suspect that number will stay about the same, if not rise, this year," she said.